January 2011

Over the years, many studies have shown that children who grow up in homes where learning and education are valued enjoy significant benefits in life . . .
They stay in school.
They go on to earn college degrees.
They enjoy more success in adult life.
If you are a parent, how can you create a learning environment that pays your children significant benefits like those?
Read to them from the crib onwards. Multiple studies show that this is your first step toward getting your kids to value learning.
Bring the educational process into your home by taking college courses online. There aren’t any studies yet that indicate that children of distance learners value education more. But I’m willing to bet that such studies are ...

Add Online Learning to Your Mommy Arsenal
If you’re a modern mother – or expecting to become one soon – you owe it to yourself to visit Parenting.com.
It’s a pretty amazing website that offers a wealth of insights about being a mother. Stuff like this . . .
How to tell if you are pregnant. This is apparently more difficult than most people know.
How to predict the gender of your child, using a fun online calculator. Note: Only works if you are pregnant.
Things to do – and not do – if you are pregnant. Don’t empty the litter box or paint a room, but do exercise.
How to pick your kid’s name. The site says that ever since names like Oprah, Viggo, Beyoncé and Madonna became mainstream, it’s okay to give your k ...

College Application Fees Soar
Sure everybody’s grumpy about the rising cost of tuition at American colleges and universities. But what about the cost of applying?
We just found a blog that lists 10 of the highest application fees in America . . .
$90 - Stanford University.
$80 - Columbia University.
$75 - Boston University, Brown University, Duke University, Drexel University, George Mason University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Delaware.
Doesn’t sound that bad, you say? Well maybe not, until you consider that the average high school student today applies to a dozen schools. If you do the math, you’ll see that those kids and their parents are spending upwards of $1, ...

Calling All Army Brats
Are you part of a military family? If so, you are part of a proud tradition of service to our country. Plus, you have the honor of following in the footsteps of a parent who is devoting his or her work to serving America.
The purpose of this post is both to thank you and your family, and to make you aware that online education can play an important role in your pursuit of higher learning and a college degree. Online college courses are perfect for military personnel and their families, for some reasons that you might not have considered:
If your family moves, you don’t have to interrupt your education. Your classroom goes wherever there is a computer.
Time zones don’t prevent you from attending a ...

Can You Train Your Brain with Online Learning?
Dr. Ryuta Kawashima has some bad news for you. In the introduction to his book Train Your Brain: 60 Days to a Better Brain he writes, “Brain function naturally begins to deteriorate after age twenty, just like our physical and muscular strength gradually weaken as we age.”
The problem, he writes, is that many common activities use only a tiny portion of our brains. Watching TV, for example, activates only a small part of our frontal lobes. Here are some other facts he has learned about the activities that “build” our brains and keep them healthy . . .
Solving a lot of simple calculations quickly is great for your mental fitness. It causes a lot of activity in both hemispheres of ...